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DREAM.17 - September 24, 2011

DREAM, Japan's leading promotion is finally ready to return in full force as on Wednesday, event producer Keiichi Sasahara officially announced DREAM.17 for Sept. 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama Japan.

The event, which is expected to feature the opening round of DREAM's Bantamweight World GP, has only one fight at this stage. Two generations of Shooto champions will clash with Caol Uno and "Lion" Takeshi Inoue meeting in a featherweight attraction.

Sasahara also announced a rule change for DREAM, bringing the promotion slightly closer to the unified rules of mixed martial arts.

DREAM will be moving to the unified rules round structure of three 5-minute rounds for non-title fights and five 5-minute rounds for title fights. Until now, aside from the Sengoku vs. DREAM matches at Dynamite 2010, DREAM has employed the PRIDE Bushido round structure of one 10-minute round followed by one 5-minute round for non-title fights and one 10-minute round followed by two 5-minute rounds for title bouts.

Caol Uno, a former Shooto welterweight (154 lbs) champion and two-time UFC title contender, will come into the bout on the heels of his impressive victory over slugger "Wicky" Akiyo Nishiura. The decision over Nishiura in May marked Uno's first victory since May 2008.

"Lion" Takeshi Inoue, a former two-time Shooto lightweight (143 lbs) champion, employed his impressive counter-striking to pick up his first DREAM win on May 29, 2011 against DEEP ace Koichiro Matsumoto.

Although not officially announced, Sasahara also hinted that Satoru Kitaoka, former Pancrase and Sengoku champion, will also be making his promotional debut at DREAM.17.

DREAM.17 will be the first numbered event of the year for DREAM and will take place almost exactly one year after DREAM.16, which was held on Sept. 25, 2010 in Nagoya. Due to financial difficulties and the March 11 Japan earthquake, DREAM has only managed two down-scaled "Fight for Japan" events in 2011 until now.

DREAM.17 got two more matches on Friday afternoon as event officials revealed that DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki will clash with former WEC lightweight champion "Razor" Rob McCullough in a non-title affair while former Sengoku lightweight ace Satoru Kitaoka will make his promotional debut against a fellow newcomer, former Shooto champion Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire.

DREAM.17, which is set to take place on Sept. 24, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be the first numbered event of the year for DREAM and will take place almost exactly one year after DREAM.16, which was held on Sept. 25, 2010 in Nagoya. The event is also expected to feature the opening round of DREAM's Bantamweight World GP which will feature the likes of Hideo Tokoro, Masakazu Imanari, Kenji Osawa, Bibiano Fernandes and four other foreign fighters.

DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki is currently riding a five fight win streak, most recently putting on a dominating performance against Rich Clementi.

"Razor" Rob McCullough, a former WEC lightweight champion and World Muay Thai champion, comes in his DREAM debut following a knockout loss to Patricky Freire in the opening round of the 2011 Bellator Lightweight GP. Freire issued a public challenge to Aoki earlier this week.

Satoru Kitaoka shot to mainstream prominence on the heels of his impressive 2008 Sengoku Lightweight GP win. A swift submission victory over Takanori Gomi earned him the promotion's lightweight strap but back to back losses to Mizuto Hirota and Jorge Masvidal decreased Kitaoka's stock. Since then, Kitaoka has put together three solid victories on the regional circuit and will be making his promotional debut against Freire.

Willamy "Chiquerim" Freire, a former Shooto welterweight (154 lbs) champion, will come into the bout with Kitaoka off a Jan. 2011 decision loss to Waylon Lowe at UFC: Fight for the Troops 2. The loss was Freire's only fight in the UFC. Freire was expected to face Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri at the previous two DREAM events but visa issues and a hand injury forced him out of those bouts respectively.

Also announced prior to the DREAM press conference, Ryo Chonan and Eiji Mitsuoka will be staging a charity event titled "Stand Up Japan" in Sendai August 27. Chonan will face on New Japan Kickboxing champ Toshio Matsumoto in a kickboxing match while Mitsuoka will participate in a grappling match.

DREAM.17 - September 24, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

After two recent failed title attempts and over seven years as a top level lightweight, Tatsuya Kawajiri will be dropping to featherweight to meet Joachim Hansen at DREAM.17 on Sept. 24 at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan.

Although the 33-year-old Kawajri has recently turned in very impressive victories over Josh Thomson and Drew Fickett, disappointing first-round losses to DREAM lightweight ace Shinya Aoki and Strikeforce lightweight champ Gilbert Melendez leave Kawajiri few options at lightweight and so he drops to 143 pounds to make his divisional debut.

Hansen, a fellow former Shooto 154-pound champion, also made the decision to drop to featherweight after losing his DREAM lightweight title to Shinya Aoki in 2009. Hansen initially struggled with the weight limit, looking drawn out in losses to former DREAM featherweight champion Bibiano Fernandes and Hiroyuki Takaya, but has since rebounded to put together three consecutive wins.

The bout is actually a rematch of an ill-fated 2006 Shooto welterweight title match. On that occasion, Hansen caught Kawajiri, the defending champion, with a kick to the groin only eight seconds into the bout. Kawajiri was unable to recover and so Hansen was handed the disqualification loss.

DREAM.17 - September 24, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

TOKYO, Japan -- DREAM's second bantamweight tournament for the year was finally made official as all four bouts for the opening round of the DREAM Bantamweight World Grand Prix were announced on Friday for DREAM.17.

DREAM.17, which is set to take place on Sept. 24, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, will be the first numbered event of the year for the leading Japanese promoter and will take place almost exactly one year after DREAM.16, which was held on Sept. 25, 2010 in Nagoya. The event is also set feature DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki taking on former WEC ace "Razor" Rob McCullough in a non-title match and the featherweight debut of Tatsuya Kawajiri.

The full card and a breakdown of the Bantamweight GP participants after the break.

Hideo Tokoro's (30-23-1) penchant for highly entertaining bouts has led to a record that is not entirely indicative of his true skill level. His impressive Bantamweight Japan GP victory earlier this year however showed a distinct change in attitude and was much more cautiously fought. Tokoro holds victories over fellow tournament participants Masakazu Imanari and Abel Callum.

Antonio Banuelos (18-7) fought a record 14 time for the now-defunct World Extreme Cagefighting and is coming into the bout on the heels of his loss to a highly motivated Miguel Torres at UFC 126. Banuelos holds notable wins over Scott Jorgensen, Kenji Osawa and Cole Escovedo .

Takafumi Otsuka (12-8-1) steps in for Kenji Osawa. Osawa qualified for the World GP with his third place in the DREAM Bantamweight Japan GP earlier this year. A shin injury sustained in training forced Osawa out of the World GP. Otsuka, a former DEEP featherweight champion and reigning DEEP bantamweight champion, has had problems definitively winning fights as of late and has lost by split or majority decision four times in the last two years. His recent performance against Hiroshi "Iron" Nakamura however was highly aggressive, although the finish did evade him.

Bibiano Fernandes and Takafumi Otsuka first fought in 2009 in the DREAM Featherweight GP. On that occasion, Fernandes turned in a dominating wrestling-centric performance and handily took the decision.

Masakazu Imanari (23-9-2), a former Cage Rage champion and two-division DEEP champion, came up just short in the DREAM Japan Bantamweight GP, losing a close decision to Hideo Tokoro in the tournament final.

Abel Cullum (18-5) a two-time King of the Cage champion, also competed in the 2009 DREAM Featherweight GP but fell to Hideo Tokoro in one of the most thrilling bouts of the year. Cullum fell short in his last two bouts – five-round KOTC title matches against Jimmie Rivera and Jared Papazian.

Yusup Saadulaev (7-0-1), Russian-born and America-based, is still somewhat untested having only fought on the regional circuit. Saadulaev has a tendency to want to stand and trade however his real strength is on the mat, with five of his seven wins coming via submission.

Gerald Harris (18-4) was controversially cut from the UFC after a frustrating decision loss to Maiquel Falcao - a bout in which both fighters were criticized for a lack of activity. The loss was his first under the Zuffa banner, having previously scored three consecutive knockouts including two "knockout of the night" bonuses. Following his release from the UFC, Harris dropped a decision to James Head and most recently picked up a decision victory over Anthony Ruiz.

Kazuhiro Nakamura (15-10), who currently runs the renowned Yoshida Dojo, last entered the ring in July, 2010 where he took a comfortable unanimous decision over Strikeforce veteran striker Karl "Psycho" Amoussou.

DREAM.17 - September 24, 2011 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

DREAM's first large-scale event for for the year got it's tenth bout on Thursday afternoon as MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba has signed to fight DREAM newcomer and Nova Uniao submission ace Yan Cabral at DREAM.17 on September 24 at Saitama Super Arena, Tokyo, Japan.

Kazushi Sakuraba has not competed since his heavily cauliflowered ear was partially torn off in his December 31, 2010 bout with DREAM welterweight champion Marius Zaromskis. The gruesome ear injury continued a run of losses for Sakuraba; the "Gracie Hunter" also falling to the much less experienced Ralek Gracie and suffering the first submission loss of his career since his debut against Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

Yan Cabral, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who first trained with Carlson Gracie before joining the highly respected Nova Uniao camp, comes into the bout with a perfect 9-0 record with every victory coming by way of submission. Cabral is particularly adept at the arm-triangle choke - a submission that has brought him victory on four occasions and also gave Kazushi Sakuraba the only submission losses of his career.

With one exception, all fighters were on weight for DREAM's first full-scale event of 2011, including DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki and former WEC ace Rob McCullough, who square off in the main event and Tatsuya Kawajiri, who is set to make his featherweight debut.

Former King of the Cage champion Abel Cullum, who arrived in Tokyo only last night due to Typhoon Roke, was the sole fighter to miss weight, coming in four pounds heavy for his anticipated Bantamweight World GP match up with two-time Deep champion Masakazu Imanari.

Although Cullum will have a chance to make the 61 kg/ 134.5 lbs limit, he already appeared badly drawn out at the weigh-ins and was shaking uncontrollably on the scales. Given his condition it seems unlikely that he will be able to make the cut and the bout will likely be changed to a catchweight.

Update: It took him four hours, but Cullum somehow managed to cut to 61 kg/ 134.5 lbs.